Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Psychiatrist

Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was born 1926 in Zurich, Switzerland and lives now in Scottsdale, AZ. From 1965 to
1970 she worked as an assistant professor at Billings Hospital in Chicago. While there, she noticed the helplessness of physicians, theologians, nurses, and social workers with people facing life's end. Believing in the near limitless possibilities of medicine, many physicians viewed death as a professional failure and tried to deny it. Kübler-Ross realized that people at life's end needed not only medical care but also a possibility to discuss their last step in life. She, therefore, began to interview terminally ill patients.



				Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Psychiatrist Pioneer in Caring for People Facing Life's End

	Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was born 1926 in Zurich, Switzerland and lives now in Scottsdale, AZ. From 1965 to 1970 she worked as an assistant professor at Billings Hospital in Chicago. While there, she noticed the helplessness of physicians, theologians, nurses, and social workers with people facing life's end. Believing in the near limitless possibilities of medicine, many physicians viewed death as a professional failure and tried to deny it. Kübler-Ross realized that people at life's end needed not only medical care but also a possibility to discuss their last step in life. She, therefore, began to interview terminally ill patients.
	The interviews were then broadcast into a lecture hall and afterwards discussed with the audience. Despite the criticism of fellow physicians, the seminars were a success because they addressed a topic which was on the minds of students and professionals of theology, medicine, and nursing, but was normally avoided. Her interview partners taught Kübler-Ross that it was important for them to converse openly about their situation instead of avoiding it. They especially suffered from the distance and the lack of candor of physicians and family members, which made it impossible for them to express their feelings and to come to an honest and peaceful closure of their life. In her 1969 book “On Death and Dying”, Kübler-Ross stressed the importance of personal conversation and compassion while caring for people facing life's end. Her publications on dying, which are not undisputed, made Kübler-Ross a pioneer of thanatology, the interdisciplinary field researching problems surrounding death and dying. Her ideas also shaped the hospice movement, whose members care all over the world for the psychological and physical well-being of people facing life's end. Homepage Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Homepage Hospice Organization: http://www.horizonhospice.org/ Filme/Films: Death and dying, a conversation with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. Videocassette (30 min.). WITF. directed by Gary Shrawder. Alexandria, VA 1975. (Chicago Public Library CPL) “To live until you die”. Videocassette (57 min.). WGBH. Time-Life Video. Intended audience: Junior high school through adults. New York 1984. (CPL) Cover of the book “On Death and Dying” by Dr. Elisabeth Kübler- Ross